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Saturday, January 31, 2015

Here's to another year of blogging! Welcoming the new year (I know I'm a month late with this ahh!) with a beauty post to take me and my readers back to where this blog first started in 2010, as a beauty blog. It's what I feel most comfortable blogging about since it's been an interest of mine for 5+ years and the online beauty community is amazing (shoutout to the lovely ABBM girls and to all my fellow blogger friends).

I have to thank the online beauty community for allowing me to find out about these very inexpensive palettes that look very similar to another brand's eyeshadow palettes... a brand that we all should know because nearly everyone's been talking about them...

Do these ring a bell?

These go by the brand 'Models Prefer' which is only available at Australia's leading cosmetics and skincare store, Priceline. All I can say about this brand is that their products are affordable and the quality is questionable. It's very hit-and-miss so you can't expect a lot from it.

Let's take a closer look at these eyeshadow palettes and how they remind me of a certain brand, which goes by the name of 'Urban Decay' - of course I'm talking about their Naked palettes!

Box packaging of the palettes

The reason why I grabbed both of these variations was because to me they looked most similar to Urban Decay Naked palettes number 1 and 3. 'Day to Night' reminds me of the original Naked palette and 'Nude' reminds me of the latest Naked palette released. Since I own neither of the Urban Decay palettes, I'm unable to carry out any sort of comparison test but what I can do is share my first impressions of these eyeshadows. Could they be a substitute for the more pricier palettes? We shall see...

Models Prefer Nude PaletteRRP $10 AUD

Here's an 'unboxing'/opening of the palette video showing the 12 colours:

As shown, these eyeshadows are looking very chalky and not the most pigmented, especially the lighter colours that are barely showing up on my arm. Although they glide on smoothly across the skin, there's lots of fallout which could really interfere with the application of these eyeshadows. The colours are great for neutral looks but quality-wise they aren't anything special.

When comparing these with the colours of the Urban Decay Naked3 palette, they are somewhat similar due to them being neutral colours but this Models Prefer palette is definitely not a dupe as the Naked3 consists of softer, pink shades.

Models Prefer Day To Night Palette

RRP $10 AUD

Again this is the 'unboxing'/opening of the palette and close-up of the 12 colours:

Once again these eyeshadows are unsurprisingly chalky which makes the swatches inconsistent and lacking in pigmentation. It's a pity because these eyeshadows feel almost as smooth as velvet but just come off as too powdery for my liking, as seen on my finger swatch.

The colours in the Day To Night palette are quite similar to the colours in the original Urban Decay Naked palette however I feel that the colours in the Naked palette are a lot more distinct and versatile. I wouldn't say that the Models Prefer palette is a substitute for the Naked palette but I do see it as a good way to become familiar with the shades of the Naked palette if for some reason, you happen to be on the fence about purchasing it. Those palettes don't sell for cheap!

The Models Prefer palettes have a similar double-ended brush inside with a blending brush end and an eyeshadow brush end:

In terms of Models Prefer product hits and misses, brushes are a hit for me. They do the job well, are soft and have minimal shedding.

Final thoughts:

I can't say that I'm impressed at all about the quality of these eyeshadows and to be honest, I wasn't expecting much from these $10 palettes anyway. I've used Models Prefer palettes and have purchased them in previous years and it's a real shame that there hasn't been any improvements. Although the palettes themselves felt quite sturdy, the overall product didn't make me feel as though the $10 a pop was well-spent because it seemed much cheaper than that. Pigmentation and consistency were the biggest let-downs followed by the design of the case (flimsy, difficult to open at times) and the mirror which was a very thin, bendy material not made from a proper/hard glass. The only thing that I found okay was the double-sided brush. And I'd give points for the names given to the eyeshadows as they follow a theme. I wouldn't encourage or discourage anyone to purchase these.

Just to reiterate, these are my first impressions and for that reason I haven't been able to do a full, in-depth review. If anyone's interested in finding out more about these palettes, I have one to giveaway! I bought a third palette as a giveaway prize on my blog, seeing as I haven't done a giveaway in a really long time and since it's the new year (my first post of 2015 - apologies for my irregular updates!) I thought why not :)

This is to show that I have 3 palettes - 2 opened and 1 brand new on the left

The palette that I'll be giving away is the Day To Night palette and I'll be drawing a random winner in two weeks (February 14)! A very easy giveaway to enter - just comment below and you're in the draw! If you can also provide an answer to this post's questjen, that would be fab :)

Questjen for you:

What's your favourite eyeshadow palette?

To be honest I'm not that big on eyeshadow but I am thinking of investing in a good quality, basic/netural eyeshadow palette like the Urban Decay Naked Basics, a Lorac Pro Palette or a Too Faced one! Keen to hear any suggestions/recommendations :D

Disclaimer: Products were purchased with my own money. This is not a sponsored post with any monetary compensation, nor am I affiliated with the companies mentioned in this post. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest and are free from bias. For full disclaimer, see http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html